Heretofore, there has been proposed a drum-shaped roller rotatable in forward and backward directions as a means for making input of character information etc. An input means of this type is known from the disclosure in the Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 203985 of 1999.
FIGS. 1 to 3 illustrate together a portable phone as an electronic apparatus using a rotating drum of the above type as a means for making entry of character information. FIG. 1 shows the external view of the portable phone, FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of the portable phone in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows a multi-functional switch used as a mobile communications terminal.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the portable phone includes an antenna 1, transmission/reception circuit 2, microphone 3, speaker 4, CPU (central processing unit) 5, ROM (read-only memory) 6 having stored therein programs etc. executed by the CPU 5, RAM (random-access memory) 7 having provisionally stored therein data required for execution of a program by the CPU 5, display drive circuit 8, and a display unit 9 driven by the display drive circuit 8 to display a variety of information. The display unit 9 uses a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel. The portable phone shown in FIG. 1 further includes operating keys 10 and a multi-functional switch 11 forming the information input device. The operating keys 10 and multi-functional switch 11 form together an operation unit 12.
In the portable phone having a body 13, the antenna 1 is provided at the right upper end of the body 13 as shown in FIG. 1. The antenna 1 is extensible upward. Also, in this portable phone, the speaker 4 is disposed nearly in the middle of the upper end of the apparatus body 13, the display unit 9 is disposed below the speaker 4, the operation unit 12 is disposed below the display unit 9, and the microphone 3 is disposed in the middle of the lower end of the apparatus body 13. The multi-functional switch 11 is disposed in the upper portion of the operation unit 12 and the operating keys 10 including ten keys are disposed below the multi-functional switch 11.
FIG. 3 shows the multi-functional switch 11 in detail. As shown, it has a drum-shaped roller 11A. By rotating or pressing the roller 11A, information is entered. The multi-functional switch 11 is constructed and functions as will be described below:
As shown in FIG. 3, the multi-functional switch 11 includes a base 11D having a downward-extending fulcrum projection 11F formed along one longitudinal side thereof. The base 11D is installed to a printed circuit board 11E with the fulcrum projection 11F laid between them. The base 11D is normally kept generally parallel to the printed circuit board 11E by a forcing means (not shown). However, when the base is pressed from above against the force of the forcing means, it is pivoted downward about the fulcrum projection 11F.
The roller 11A is supported above the base 11D rotatably with the rotating shaft thereof being held horizontally. More specifically, the roller 11A is supported at one end of the rotating shaft thereof in a bearing provided in a support piece 11G and at the other end in a bearing provided in a rotation detector 11B. The rotation detector 11B supporting the other end of the rotating shaft detects a rotated extent and direction of the rotating shaft of the roller 11A. A switch 11C is provided on the printed circuit board 11E and under the base 11D. When the roller 11A is pressed from above, the base 11D is pivoted about the fulcrum projection 11F and presses the switch 11C which will thus be turned on. Thus, the multi-functional switch 11 makes entry of a rotated extent and direction of the roller 11A by rotating the latter and also enters information by pressing the roller 11A.
The operations of the portable phone shown in FIG. 1 will be explained below as to a phone directory search with reference to FIG. 4:
First, the operating keys 10 of the operation unit 12 are operated in a predetermined manner to display an initial screen 9a set in the portable phone. A menu for the phone directory search is selected from the initial screen 9a and then set. Next, the roller 11A of the multi-functional switch 11 is rotated upward or downward in the plane of FIG. 3. At this time, there will be displayed on the display unit 9 information about initials of a destination's name like “a, i, u, e, o, ka, ki, . . . wa” (in the order of the Japanese 50-character “kana” syllabary) for example as options. The information appears scrolling, and the options are extracted from the RAM 7 correspondingly to a rotated extent of the roller 11A and displayed on the display unit 9. A reference number 9b indicates an example of the display on the screen of the display unit 9.
When a desired initial is found on the screen, a cursor 15 is pointed to that initial by rotating the roller 11A. That is, the information is selected. A reference number 9c indicates an example of the display on the screen when the desired information has been selected. In this example, “sa” is selected. After completion of this selection, the roller 11A is pressed to set the selected initial “sa”. That is, when the roller 11A is pressed, the switch 11C is turned on, which is detected by the CPU 5. An option the cursor 15 is pointing to, information about the initial “sa” in this example, is set. With this setting, names (full name) having been entered under the initial (“sa” in this example) will be displayed. A reference number 9d indicates an example of the display. Then, the roller 11A is further rotated to move the cursor 15 to a desired names. A reference number 9e indicates an example of the selection. A name “Ikuo Sasaki” is selected in this example. With this setting, the roller 11A is pressed. The name “Ikuo Sasaki” is set in this example.
With the roller 11A further pressed in this condition, information corresponding to the selected name “Ikuo Sasaki” is read from the RAM 7 and displayed on the display unit 9, which example is indicated with a reference 9f. For selection of a desired option from the display screen, for example, sending a phone call or an electronic mail to “Ikuo Sasaki”, the cursor 15 is moved to the option and placed over the option. Thus, the desired option is selected. For example, the cursor 15 is moved to a phone number and placed over it, whereby sending of the phone call or electronic mail to a phone of that number will be selected.
Note that some destinations have a plurality of phone numbers including his or her home phone number, office phone number, a phone number of his or her portable phone number and also an electronic mail (e-mail) address or the like, not any single phone number.
The cursor 15 is of course moved to a phone number displayed on the screen by rotating the roller 11A of the multi-functional switch 11. A reference number 9g in FIG. 4 indicates an example when such a destination is selected. It should be noted that selection of an electronic mail address in the information corresponding to a selected name will lead to selection of sending of an electronic mail to that address.
When the roller 11A is pressed from above in the plane of FIG. 3 after the above selection, the selected option is set. Then, the set option is carried out, namely, a call is sent to the selected one of the phone numbers of Ikuo Sasaki in this example. A reference number 9h indicates an example of the display appearing on the display unit 9 at this time, in which a message “calling”, the name (“Ikuo Sasaki”) of the destination of the phone call and the destination phone number are displayed.
With the portable phone shown in FIG. 1, it is possible to select one of the plurality of options by rotating the roller 11A of the multi-functional switch 11 and set the selected option by pressing the roller 11A with the finger having rotated the roller 11A for the selection of the option. Thus, it is possible to rapidly send a call or electronic mail.
The mobile communications terminal such as the conventional portable phone is not advantageous in some respects as follows since it uses the multi-functional switch 11.
Firstly, the use of the multi-functional switch 11 inhibits the mobile communications terminal from being designed thinner. There are demands for mobile communications terminals including the portable phone having a wider variety of functions, higher performance, easier operability and a thinner design. The aforementioned conventional portable phone can hardly meet such demands. More specifically, in the multi-functional switch 11, the roller 11A has to be rotatably supported, and there should be provided between the base 11D to support the roller 11A and printed circuit board 11E the switch 11C provided to set a selected option and which is turned on when the roller 11A is pressed. This construction itself makes it difficult to provide a thinner design of the portable phone. Namely, the thickness of the multi-functional switch 11 depends primarily upon the diameter of the roller 11A. A smaller diameter of the roller 11A will lead to a thinner design of the multi-functional switch 11. For assuring a large scrolling by one rotated extent of the roller 11A, however, the diameter of the latter has to be correspondingly large. If the diameter of the roller 11A is too small, the roller 11A itself will loose its easy operability.
The above mechanism of the roller 11A will be described in detail below:
The circumferential turn of the roller 11A, required for a scrolling of one line through the screen of the display unit 9, has to be larger than a predetermined value and may not be limitlessly smaller than the predetermined value. When the diameter of the roller 11A is smaller, the rotation angle of the latter, necessary for the cursor movement for one line, has to be larger correspondingly (for the reduction of the diameter). The smaller the diameter of the roller 11A, the smaller the maximum number of pulses the roller 11A can generate per turn becomes. Therefore, for movement of the cursor over many lines, the roller 11A should be rotated very much by the finger, which will lead to a longer time for selection of a desired option and cause the operation of the roller 11A to be more annoying.
On this account, it is assumed that the scrolling attained by one turn of the roller 11A of a small diameter is increased. In this case, however, the circumferential turn of the roller 11A for movement of the cursor 15 for one line will be smaller, which makes it difficult to accurately point the cursor 15 to a desired line. The cursor 15 will move and return excessively, which will lead to a poorer operability of the roller 11A.
As will be known from the foregoing, the multi-functional switch 11 is limited from being designed thinner and it will possibly be impossible to meet the future demand for a thinner design of the mobile communications terminal or the like such as the portable phone which uses the multi-functional switch 11.
Secondly, since with the multi-functional switch 11, an option can be selected by rotating the roller 11A and the selected option can be set by pressing the roller 11A after the selection, so the selecting and setting operations cannot be distinguished from each other. The users will not possibly be able to make a distinction between the selecting and setting operations. Namely, the following will be possible. A user intending to rotate the roller 11A will eventually press the latter because he or she has rotated the roller 11A with an excessive force, and thus he will set an undesired option. On the other hand, a user intending to press the roller 11A in order to set a selected option will rotate the latter because he or she has applied a force to the roller 11A in a wrong direction, and thus he will select a wrong or undesired option.